


How to SAVE A Life

by Captain_Ammy



Series: Degrees of Isolation one-shots [4]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Frisk is a Little Shit, Other, Sans is big mad, dark-sided fic, trigger warning: car accident
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-21
Updated: 2017-11-21
Packaged: 2019-02-05 05:35:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12788148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Captain_Ammy/pseuds/Captain_Ammy
Summary: More scrapings from the bottom of the fail-barrel of my Degrees of isolation series.Frisk accidentally gets Conarith killed and has to deal with the consequences. Or at least, they would have if they didn't know how to SAVE/LOAD. Instead, they must deal with the consequences of NOT dealing with consequences.





	How to SAVE A Life

It was just a stupid argument.

A tiny, insignificant spat.

Conarith had taken Frisk to school that morning, as she always did. That day, Frisk was in a bad mood having stayed up all night playing video games. They were tired and cranky, but they did not mean it.

It was stupid.

Conarith had gotten on Frisk for not getting enough sleep. Normally, Frisk would have let it go and ignored her, but not this time. This time, they decided that they had had enough.

They got upset.

They talked back.

They ran off.

God, it was all just so stupid!

They did not mean to; they were just so mad! They got enough shit from Goat Mom and Sans; they did not need it from Conarith, too.

“Frisk, don’t you dare talk back to me! As long as you are in my care, I _will_ tell you what to do!” she had said.

So, they ran off.

Conarith hated cars. She was afraid of them. When Frisk ran into the street, she panicked. She screamed after them. She ran after them.

Frisk did not see when she had gotten hit. All they had heard was the screeching of tires, a loud bang, and screaming.

When they turned back around, she was on the ground.

Everything seemed so unreal.

People were crowding around. Some were screaming. Others were calling for help.

Frisk just stood there. None of it felt real.

Conarith was bleeding, convulsing. A man was holding her, asking if she could hear him.

Her lips were quivering; she was trying to speak. Frisk was not close enough to hear her.

Finally, it had dawned on them.

They tried to run to her, but a woman had grabbed them. They screamed and cried out for their fallen friend, but the woman would not let them go. She tried to calm them down, but to no avail.

“That’s my sister! Let me go; that’s Conarith, my sister!” they cried.

The woman was not able to keep the squirming, panicked child in her grasp for long, and Frisk eventually broke free. They ran up to their sister and knelt beside her.

They called Conarith’s name, but she did not respond. She was bleeding so badly.

Frisk tried to rouse her from her unconsciousness, but she just lay there, unmoving. No more shaking, no more breathing.

No more Conarith.

Frisk recoiled from her body as if they had been slapped in the face.

Conarith was dead. She was dead and it was all their fault. They felt as if they had ice in their veins.

Frisk had never seen a human corpse before. Sure, they had seen plenty of monsters bite it by the dozen, but when they died, they turned to dust. It was easy to rationalize their deaths; easy to become desensitized. Of course, watching them crumble to nothing was quite traumatic, but there was no blood. No trembling. No tears. No sputters, or moans, or death throes. They just sort of disappeared.

But watching Conarith die was different. There was so much blood; too much blood. The side of her body that had been hit looked crushed. Some of her muscle tissue was visible. She died with her eyes wide open. The once dignified woman was now just a half-mangled corpse in the middle of the street.

And all because of them. All over a stupid argument that should not have happened in the first place.

Conarith was gone and they would never see her again.

Frisk felt sick and cold all over. The world began to blur around them. They could vaguely hear people ask them if they were ok, and that the police would be there soon. They ignored it all.

They reached out their hand before them. Two words appeared at their fingertips.

SAVE/LOAD.

SAVE/ **LOAD**.

Are you sure you would like to load back to the last SAVE?

YES/NO.

It had been an entire year since they last loaded a state. They promised that they would never do it again.

YES/NO.

They knew that they would hear it in the morning.

YES/NO.

But they could not continue without her.

YES/NO.

_Kid, what the hell are you doing?_

**YES** /NO.

And for a moment, the whole world went black.

 

It was not long before Frisk once again woke up to the sound of their mother’s voice.

“Frisk! It’s time for school!” they heard Toriel call.

Frisk forced themselves to sit up and look around the room. Everything seemed normal enough. They were still groggy from their all-night gaming session, as they should have been.

Suddenly, the knob to their door turned. Their breath hitched in their throat as the door swung open to reveal Conarith, whom was very much alive and grinning at them from the doorway.

“Good morning, Frisk!” she sang. She pounced onto their bed. “Are you ready for this wonderful Saturday morning?”

Before, Frisk was annoyed. They were not ready — they were tired of school and pissed off at Conarith’s unwarranted cheerfulness.

But this time, Frisk threw their arms around their sister and relished her warmth. It took everything that they had not to burst into tears from relief.

Conarith reluctantly returned their embrace. “Frisk? What has gotten into you this morning?”

Frisk pulled away and offered Conarith a watery smile. “Nothing! Just…happy to see you.”

Conarith smiled and pecked Frisk on the cheek. “Well I am pleased to have made you so happy with my mere presence.” She sat up and put her hands on her hips. “But, flattery will get you nowhere, you little scamp! Go get ready for classes.”

Frisk just nodded, too preoccupied with the fact that their silenced phone was showing that someone was calling.

Sans.

“Well, alright,” said Conarith. “I shall leave you to it.” With that, she closed Frisk’s door behind her. Frisk grabbed their phone to answer.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I had to do it!” they wailed. “I’m sorry, Sans; please don’t be mad!”

“Whoa, whoa, kid. Slow down,” said Sans. “Let’s take this from the top. What do you mean you _had_ to?”

Frisk could not answer.

Sans sighed. “Look, kid. I won’t pretend to know why you did it. All I know is that you scared the ever-loving shit out of me. I don’t really like waking up in the morning twice on the same day, so you better have a damn good reason why you loaded a save.”

“I– I’m sorry,” Frisk mumbled, their voice cracking.

“Sorry isn’t good enough!” Sans suddenly yelled. “What the hell, Frisk? Are you kidding me?”

Frisk impulsively hung up — they hated when Sans yelled.

_Is this a fucking game to you? You think I won’t fight you for the rest of eternity? I’ll kill you as many times as I have to, kid! I’ll never let you past me, so just give up already!_

Frisk trembled underneath their blanket as they cried their eyes out. They knew that their phone was ringing, but they dared not answer.

“Frisk! I don’t hear the shower running!” they could hear their mother scold from downstairs. Still, they did not move. They wanted to stay in bed forever.

“Frisk?” they heard Conarith call from outside their door. “You little scamp; did you fall back to sleep?”

Frisk quickly pulled the blanket from over their head and wiped away their tears. “No! I’m getting up now!”

But they still did not move. Sans was coming; they could feel it.

Frisk dissolved right away when Sans suddenly appeared in their room. He was obviously steamed, and Frisk was so frightened that they did not know what else to do.

“Kid, stop it,” Sans demanded. “You made a promise to me; I deserve an explanation.”

Frisk just looked away, their shoulders shaking with each sob.

Sans sighed again. “Frisk, look at me.”

They did not.

They could not.

“Frisk, I’m not gonna ask you again,” said Sans with barely restrained contempt. “Look me in the eyes and tell me why you loaded a save.”

Frisk did as they were told. “Because…”

“Kid, for fuck’s sake,” Sans snapped. “Look, I’m sorry if I’m flying off the handle a little bit, but this whole thing fucked me up. I’m not sure you understand what it feels like for me to suddenly start the whole morning over again after being reset-free for three years.”

“I’m not gonna reset,” Frisk sobbed. “I wouldn’t do that.”

“Ok, but how can I trust that?” said Sans. “How could I ever trust you again? You promised that you’d never use your powers again, and yet, here we fucking are, Frisk.”

Frisk remained silent and looked down at their legs.

“What the hell do you want from me, kid?” Sans asked several moments later. “I’m trying so hard to live my life. I got a good thing going for me now, and I can’t have you fu–”

“What would you do if Conarith was taken from you?” Frisk suddenly asked.

Sans was taken aback by their question. “Excuse me?”

“I asked what you would do if she was taken from you,” Frisk repeated.

“What are you implying?” asked Sans, his hands tightening to fists in his pockets.

“Just answer the question,” said Frisk.

Sans did not answer right away. He stared at Frisk to assess their meaning.

The kid looked terrible, no doubt from crying so hard. Sans felt bad for getting on their case like this, but Frisk did not seem to understand how betrayed he felt! And what did Conarith have to do with this? As far as Sans was concerned, she was to be kept out of this. Whatever Frisk was planning, he was fully prepared to stop them if he needed to.

He looked Frisk in the eyes and replied, “I’d make sure whoever hurt her has a bad time.”

Frisk nodded solemnly. “I figured you’d say that.”

In a fit of rage, Sans reached out and grabbed them by the collar of their nightshirt. “I swear to God, Frisk, if you’ve done something to her, I’ll–”

“She got hit by a car,” Frisk admitted.

Sans did not let go, but his grip loosened. “Wh– What? What did you say?”

“She got hit by a car and died,” Frisk said. Their face tightened. “She died right in front of me, Sans.”

Finally, Sans let go.

“Kid,” he whispered.

“You would’ve done the same thing, right?” Frisk asked as they choked back more tears. “If you had the power to SAVE her, wouldn’t you?”

“Jesus, kid,” Sans gasped. He pulled the child in an embrace. “Jesus Christ, I’m so sorry.”

Frisk fell apart in his arms. “It was my fault! It was all my fault! I didn’t mean to!”

Sans shushed them and stroked their hair. “Kid, it’s ok. It’s ok, it’s ok. You did what you thought was right. And you’re right; I would’ve done the same thing.”

“Frisk, why are you not getting ready?” Conarith suddenly called from outside Frisk’s door. “You have been dallying for almost 20 minutes, and Toriel is– Oh!”

She paused when she saw Sans. She started to greet him, but stopped when she saw that Frisk was crying. She gasped and rushed over to them.

“Frisk!” she exclaimed as she knelt beside them. “Frisk, what happened? What is wrong?”

Frisk was too broken up to respond, so Sans picked up the slack, “They had a pretty bad nightmare. It really shook them up.”

“Oh, Frisk,” Conarith cooed sympathetically as she gently placed a hand on their shoulder. “You poor thing! Oh, sweetie, I am so sorry. Will you be alright?”

Frisk practically launched themselves into Conarith’s arms. She gasped and almost fell back, but she quickly rebounded and wrapped her arms around them.

“I’m sorry!” they cried. “I never wanna lose you again!”

Conarith squeezed them tight. “Oh, honey, is that what your dream was about? I would never leave you behind; I swear it.” She looked up at Sans for some sort of explanation.

But he did not see her. He had a far-off look in his eyes as if he were on a different world entirely.

_I watched her die, Sans._

He lost his breath at the mere thought. Fortunately for him, Conarith was too busy comforting Frisk to notice how labored his breathing had become.

She died. She died and he was not there to save her. He could be anywhere in mere seconds, but he was not there for her. He wanted to vomit.

“You ok now, kid?” Sans asked aloud. Frisk had stopped crying and was now just spaced out in Conarith’s lap.

“You are alright, yes?” Conarith said. She planted a kiss on Frisk’s temple. “You will be ok. If you would like, I am sure that I could convince Toriel to let you take off a day from class. Does that sound good?”

Frisk nodded.

“Then I will do just that,” Conarith said. She motioned to get up, but Frisk would not let her go.

“Stay,” they murmured hoarsely.

“I’ll go tell her,” Sans offered. He did not wait for confirmation; he needed to get out of there.

“I am so sorry that this has happened to you, Frisk,” said Conarith as she continued to hold her little sibling. “Such a horrible way to start such a lovely day.”

Frisk buried their face in the crook of her neck. “I’d never hurt you on purpose. You know that, right?”

Conarith furrowed their brows and moved her head to look at them. “Of course! Why would you say such a thing? Did you dream about hurting me?”

Frisk did not respond.

“Oh, Frisk,” Conarith sighed. She held their head against her body. “Even if you did harm me, I am confident that you would never mean it. You are a good child; I know this to be true.”

Frisk shook their head. “I’m not.”

“Frisk! You are!” Conarith assured them. “You are a wonderful child and I will always love you, no matter what. Put this dream out of your mind; it was never real.”

Frisk gripped Conarith’s arm and fought to keep composed as flashes of her death invaded their mind.

If only that were true.

**Author's Note:**

> Since "A Short Ride in A Fast Machine" is so short, I decided to put up two shorts at once. I hope y'all enjoyed my ravings thus far. Comment if you can. Critiques are always appreciated and necessary for improvement.
> 
> Edit (12/6/17): Hey, so I noticed that a few people subscribed to the story. That's great! I'm really glad to know that there's some people out there who think these little ravings are good enough to want more. However, being that these are one-shots, I'm just letting ya'll know now that they most likely won't ever be continued, so if you want to follow more of my stuff, you can subscribe to my penname instead. But, if you only care about this particular story and you really wanna know what was supposed to lead into this, feel free to drop me a line; I'm more than happy to tell you, or even write another little short if you REALLY want it!


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